Unexpected
by TVObssessedGirl28
Summary: It's Matilda's first Christmas and Cal wants the day to be one to remember. But, when something happens can Cal manage to save the day for Matilda and make sure she has a very Merry Christmas?
1. Chapter 1

"Come on, Nibbles! Be a little more cheery." Cal reprimanded his little brother.

It was early on Christmas morning and Ethan had just finished a night shift.

"Cal." Ethan groaned. "It's 6.00."

"So? It's Christmas." his brother retorted back.

"So, I 've got another shift in 3 hours."

Cal looked over his shoulder.

"I thought you had today off like me?"

"I did. But, it's Christmas and, well they need more staff."

"But, this year it's special. This year it will be Matilda's very first Christmas with her dad and favourite uncle." Cal said trying to get Ethan to stay at home.

"Nice try, Cal. But, I've got to go to work."

"Come on, Eth. Stay and help me finish decorating the flat before Matilda wakes up."

As if on cue, the two brothers heard a soft wailing sound.

"Great." Cal muttered. "She's probably upset because mean 'old' uncle Ethan is not going to be here."

Ethan rolled his eyes.

"Again nice try. Seriously, though I do have to go to work."

"Yeah, alright." Cal mumbled going to fetch Matilda.

Minutes later, Cal returned, his daughter cradled in his arms. Matilda gurgled as she entered the living room and saw all the bright decorations hanging from the Christmas tree.

"I think she likes them." Cal smiled.

Soon it was time for Ethan to go to work. He bent down and kissed his niece, who lay in his brother's arms.

"Have fun."

He patted Cal on the shoulder.

"See you later."

"Yeah, see you later." Cal replied.

Eventually, after Cal had managed to calm Matilda down by rocking her back and forth he was sat watching the TV. He wasn't paying much attention to what was happening when suddenly some breaking news came on. The reporter had stated an ongoing hostage situation was taking place at Holby hospital. Cal didn't bother with hearing the rest of the report. He took Matilda and drove frantically to the hospital. He prayed Ethan was okay. Getting out of his car, Cal saw a huge crowd gathered outside. He scanned the crowd hoping to a catch a glimpse of those familiar blond curls and glasses. But, he didn't. He started to panic. Where was his brother? Why wasn't he outside with everyone else? Spotting Charlie, Cal rushed over to him carrying Matilda with him.

"Charlie! What's happening?"

Charlie turned around when he heard Cal's voice.

"Patient apparently got agitated."

"Okay, but where's Ethan?"

That's when Charlie hesitated and Cal knew why Ethan wasn't outside. He was inside. He was the hostage.

"Why aren't the police doing anything?" Cal raised his voice.

"They need clearance before they can enter."

"Clearance? From who?"

"Higher authority."

"But, my brother's in there!"

Before Charlie could protest, Cal handed Matilda to him and ran towards the hospital.

"Excuse me, sir." An armed policeman said. "But, you can't go in there."

"No, you don't understand. I'm a doctor. I can help." Cal replied hoping the policeman would let him pass.

The policeman firmly shook his head.

"Still can't let you in. I've been informed by one of my colleagues that there is currently a doctor in there. I can't let you risk your life as well."

Cal couldn't care less. He just wanted to get Ethan out, alive if possible. Ignoring the policeman's shouts Cal ran into the building. Upon entering it was deadly silent. The silence unnerved him and all he could think about was Ethan scared while a patient was threatening him. Arriving at the doors to RESUS, Cal stopped in his tracks. Coming from inside he could hear shouting and then the familiar voice of his brother trying to calm the patient down.

"Please," Ethan begged. "Please just put the scalpel down."

"NO! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE HIM? WHY DIDN'T YOU SAVE MY BROTHER?"

"I'm really sorry your brother died and I'm sorry we couldn't save him. But, we did everything we could."

The next thing Cal heard was a loud scream and then a crash. Before he knew what was happening there was a lot of shouting and the patient was being restrained by two policemen.

"Can I get a doctor in here!" Another policeman shouted.

Cal rushed in. There was a pool of blood on the floor and Ethan. He had a nasty wound to the chest. He ran over and took over from the policeman.

"Can we get him onto a trolley and roll him into peads?" Cal instructed as Zoe and Rita came in.

Ethan was soon hooked up to machines.

"His BP's dropping." Rita announced.

"We need to stop this bleeding." Cal said as he continued to put pressure on Ethan's chest.

"Cal, you can't treat him" Zoe said taking control.

"No, I'm not leaving him!" Cal replied refusing to move.

"Look, why don't you go back to Matilda. We'll come and get you when he's stable."

Cal hesitated. Finally he walked out of RESUS. He didn't notice the blood still on his shirt as he stepped out into the fresh air.

"Cal?" Charlie asked carrying Matilda. "You okay?"

Noticing the blood, Cal nodded slowly.

"Ethan?" Charlie inquired handing Matilda to him.

Cal nodded again.

"How is he?"

"I don't know." Cal whispered holding Matilda close to him. "I just don't know."

Cal kissed Matilda gently on the head praying he wouldn't lose his brother. Praying Matilda wouldn't lose her uncle. As if she could sense something was wrong Matilda gave a little whimper.

"I know, Toad." Cal whispered tightening his hold on her. "I'm worried about uncle Nibbles as well."


	2. Chapter 2

Soon the patient was taken into police custody and everyone was allowed back inside. Cal sat in the Relative's Room, Matilda asleep in his arms. There was a quiet knock at the door.

"How's he doing, mate?" Lofty asked.

Cal looked up.

"Don't know. No one's told me anything."

"And how's Matilda?" Lofty inquired glancing towards the little girl.

"Finally managed to settle her. I think she can sense that something's wrong."

"Babies are good at that."

Cal chuckled softly. Matilda moved slightly in her sleep and he rocked her gently. Lofty said his goodbyes and closed the door behind him. An hour later Zoe entered the room.

"Cal?"

Cal stood up.

"How is he?" worry in his tone of voice.

"He's stable."

Cal let out a sigh of relief.

"Can I go in and see him?"

Zoe nodded. The two of them heard a little laugh. Cal looked down and saw Matilda smiling.

"Yes, Toad. Your uncle Ethan is fine. Want to go and see him?" He asked his daughter.

Matilda kicked her legs in response.

"Alright. Let's go see uncle Ethan." He said picking her out from her seat.

The two followed Zoe to one of the private rooms. Zoe then left them. The room was quiet apart from the constant beep of the monitor. Cal sat down with Matilda in his arms, watching as Ethan's chest rose up and down. Matilda sat in his lap. He looked towards her dad. She could see the tears in his eyes. She then looked at her uncle. Why was daddy upset? She thought, Uncle Ethan is only sleeping.

She reached out her little hand and wrapped her fingers around Ethan's. Then she let go and tapped Cal's. Realising what she was trying to do, Cal reached out and took hold of his brother's hand. Matilda placed her tiny hand on top of Cal's and made a small noise. Cal looked at his daughter and smiled.

"I'm sure uncle Ethan knows we're here, Toad."

Just then the machine started beeping a bit faster. Matilda let out a small cry.

"Hey, hey. It's okay," Cal told her. "It's just telling us he's getting better."

With his reply, Cal held Matilda so she could place a small kiss on Ethan's cheek. Sensing a pair of lips on his cheek Ethan fluttered his eyes open.

"Hello, little Toad." He smiled.


	3. Chapter 3

Matilda gave a little smile and laugh, flapping her arms and legs as she saw Ethan waking up. Cal let out a small laugh as well as tears rolled down his cheeks. His brother was going to be okay. Ethan sat up a bit and leant against his pillow, wincing a bit.

"There we go, Toad." Cal said handing his daughter to his brother. "Uncle Ethan is fine."

Matilda placed her tiny hands upon Ethan's cheeks.

"Hello, Matilda." Ethan said to his niece. "I hope your daddy looked after you well, while I was sleeping?"

"I think it was the other way round, mate." Cal told Ethan. "She was the one who was looking after me."

Ethan handed her back to him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean when we arrived at the hospital she immediately knew something was wrong. She could sense that her uncle was in trouble, but she kept me strong. She comforted me and told me not to worry."

"Did you, Matilda? Did you tell your daddy not to worry?" Ethan smiled as he stroked her cheek.

Matilda kicked her legs. Ethan chuckled, but the started to cough. Cal picked up a glass of water and handed it to him.

"Here, take a drink."

"I'm fine." Ethan said refusing the glass. "It's not the bad."

But, it was bad. The coughing continued until it became a hoarse, chesty cough and the machines started to register a spike in Ethan's breathing. Cal pressed the emergency button, while Matilda let out a scream.

"Shhh." Cal comforted his daughter as Zoe and Rita burst in.

"What happened?" Zoe asked as she and Rita saw Ethan struggling to breathe.

"He just started coughing." Cal replied trying to calm Matilda down.

Rita kept an eye on Ethan's vitals while Zoe checked his chest with her stethoscope. The examination took much longer than Cal thought it would. To him, this worried him.

"Zoe, what is it?" Cal inquired.

Zoe continued to check Ethan's breathing.

"Rita, what are his vitals?" Zoe asked.

"Resps are slow, BP is 4. He's not improving." Rita told Zoe.

"ZOE!" Cal shouted. "What's going on?"

Zoe turned to face him. placing her stethoscope around her neck.

"I'm not sure. I think his lung might have collapsed."

"How? You said he was stable."

"He was."

They were soon interrupted by the machine going wild. Matilda started crying again.

"Okay, we need to get him to RESUS ASAP. He's crashing." Zoe instructed as she and Rita rolled out of the room with Cal following behind them.

"Ethan?" Charlie said as the rolled into RESUS.

"His lungs collapsed. We need to do a chest drain immediately." Zoe said as they got all the equipment ready.

Back outside, Cal looked on helpless as his friends tried to save his brother. He was not about to lose him, not like this. Matilda was still crying and reaching her tiny hands out. She wanted her uncle Ethan.

"Don't worry," Cal told his daughter. "He's going to be fine. He's going to be just fine."

Thought the last bit was more to reassure himself rather than her.


	4. Chapter 4

Cal was going out his mind. It was Christmas and he was not about to lose his brother on Christmas day. Not for Matilda. He would make sure that Ethan would pull through so he could spend Matilda's first Christmas with them as a family. While Cal waited to hear anything, Lofty had kindly offered to watch Matilda. It felt like ages. Cal sat in the staffroom, nervously tapping his knees. Charlie soon came in. Cal was about to get up, but Charlie put out his hand to stop him. His heart stopped. Why would Charlie do that? Charlie sat down beside him. Why wouldn't Charlie talk to him? Why was he keeping silent? Cal was starting to panic even more.

"Charlie, how is he?" Cal said not being able to take the silence any longer.

"He's um…." Charlie hesitated.

"He's what? Please, don't say it. Please don't say he's dead."

"Cal, I'm so sorry."

Cal just shook his head.

"No, this can't be happening."

Cal stood up and started pacing. His anger suddenly got the better of him.

"But, he was doing fine. Zoe caught the pneumothorax just in time! How can this happen?"

"We thought we did. The chest drain was inserted, but there were complications."

"Complications? What complications?"

"It looks like the stab wound was a lot deeper than originally thought. It started bleeding again and we couldn't stop it."

"Matilda." Cal suddenly said. "How am I supposed to tell my daughter that her uncle's dead? How am I supposed to tell her he won't be spending Christmas with us?"

 ** _Apologises for ending this chapter this way.I didn't want it to be this dramatic, but I couldn't help myself. I always end up writing a death scene whenever I can. Sorry xxx_**


	5. Chapter 5

"Cal, what is it?" Lofty asked the minute Cal entered the Relative's Room.

Lofty noticed Cal's expression as he closed the door behind him. Cal didn't respond, he just shook his head. He walked over and took Matilda from him. He held her against his chest as the tears fell down. Lofty knew what had happened. He lowered his head in respect.

"Mate, I'm so sorry." He whispered.

Cal sat down with Matilda on his lap.

"I'll leave you two alone."

"No, please stay." Cal said.

He couldn't be on his own right now. He needed to tell Matilda what had happened but, he couldn't do it on his own. Lofty nodded and stayed with them. Cal gently placed a kiss upon his daughter's head and stroke her head.

"Listen," Cal began to say. "You know uncle Ethan is very sick?"

Matilda just looks at her dad.

"Well, I'm very sorry but, uncle Ethan has gone away to be with Grandma. He won't be home for Christmas."

Cal broke down as soon as he said those words. He held Matilda tightly against him and sobbed. His brother was gone, Matilda's uncle was gone. Lofty let the two of them grieve for a few minutes.

"Cal, why don't I look after Matilda while you go and see him?" Lofty offered taking Matilda from him.

Cal wiped the tears away from his eyes and nodded his thanks. Solemnly, he walked across Reception towards RESUS. Along the way he was met with sympathetic glances from his colleagues and friends. Upon reaching RESUS he froze for a minute before regaining his composure. Pushing the doors open he was met with silence. Cal saw his brother's body lying on a trolley, a sheet covering his body. He collapsed onto his knees as the grief overtook him. With the tears subsiding for a bit Cal stoop up off the floor and walked over to where Ethan lay. He stroked his hair.

"Goodbye, little brother."


	6. Chapter 6

**_Matilda's P.O.V_**

Daddy was very upset. I could tell. But, he was trying to not show his emotions. He wanted to stay strong for me. I was upset too. I missed uncle Ethan. I knew he and daddy would fight. I knew daddy would tease him and call him 'Nibbles'. But, I knew daddy loved uncle Ethan.

Daddy told me a story once. It was the day auntie Dixie lost uncle Jeff and the day when daddy almost lost uncle Ethan too. Daddy promised him he wouldn't let anything to him. It was the day daddy told uncle Ethan he loved him.

Now uncle Ethan is gone. Daddy blames himself. I know he does. I can see it in his eyes. He cries himself to sleep. He cries when he thinks I can't hear him. But, I can. He tries to make out he's okay. Tries to make out he's coping. But, he's not coping. I see him drink away his sorrows. He thinks it will help him, but it doesn't.

He misses his little brother. And I miss my uncle 'Nibbles'.


End file.
